Everything You Fear
by Deeai003
Summary: After his plan to unleash his toxin on Gotham City fails, Jonathan Crane is faced with something he isn't farmiliar with: someone who isn't afraid of him. The story of Becky Albright, told in the Nolanverse. Based off of "New Years Evil:Scarecrow 'Mistress of Fear'"
1. A Single Soul Fearless Enough

"And really, even if it _was_ me do you really think there's a single soul fearless enough to stand up in court of law and testify aginst the _Scarecorw?"_

* * *

The trial of Dr. Jonathan Crane was a highly publicized one in Gotham City. The former director of Gotham's infamous Arkham Asylum was being charged for more crimes than you could count on your fingers, from the illegal experiments he preformed on patients to the attacks on what the media now dubbed as "Fear Night." News coverage of the trial was extensive. Sleazy reporters contorted the words of lawyers and witnesses on both sides, making it hard for people to root for the prosecution, despite the horrors the defendant had been accused of.

The defense had initially wanted the doctor to plead insanity, play crazy, act like he was nuts. But Jonathan Crane was much too proud for that and even if his lawyers had tried to get him declared unfit for trial, there's no way any doctor would make that claim. In order for Dr. Crane to have been declared unfit for trial he would've had to have a preexisting mental condition that caused him to commit the crimes. While several arguments could be made for that, the second requirement of an insanity plea was one Dr. Crane did not meet. He would've had to have been unaware that his actions were 'wrong' and Dr. Crane was well aware that what he was doing wasn't exactly moral.

So the defense changed their strategy. The plan was a simple one: Undermine the testimony of every single prosecution witness until the jury saw that the prosecution had no reliable witnesses to testify against Jonathan Crane.

He says my client sprayed him with his toxin?

He's in Arkham how do we know he didn't just imagine this in his fragile mental state?

He says Dr. Crane had drugs imported from Asia?

He works for the mob, we can't trust a word he says

This continued throughout the entirety of the prosecution's case, planting seeds of doubt into the minds of the jurors. That is, until Becky Albright took the stand.

A young college student, Becky was an eyewitness of the events of "Fear Night" and had other witnesses confirm parts of her story. The media was all over her, nicknaming her "Brave Becky" she made headlines and nightly news coverage for weeks. The young law student would later be declared one of the main reasons for the jury's final decision. She was the only truly reliable witness who saw the Scarecrow at the scene and wasn't at the time under the influence of fear toxin.

It was the 3rd day of the trial when Becky was called to testify. The courtroom was packed with reporters and intrigued citizens all awaiting the continuation of the trial. The audience arose and then sat back down as the bailiff announced the judge's arrival. Camera flashes and quite murmuring began the moment the judge sat down.

"Does the Prosecuting have a witness to present?" He asked. He made sure to sit up straight, well aware of the cameras and journalists that littered his courtroom. The prosecuting attorney stood up to answer the judge, careful to conduct himself in the most professional of manners.

"The people call Rebecca Albright to the stand."

Grabbing hold of her cane, the young girl slid passed the people seated next to her and out of the row. Whispers immediately erupted the moment she stood up, mostly commenting on the fact that they were unaware that she was a cripple.

Once Becky was sworn in she took a seat in the witness stand, where she was at first asked a few housekeeping-type questions. Can you please state and spell your full name? How old are you? What is your current occupation? Questions such as these didn't last long and the prosecutor quickly dove into the 'meatier' questions, the ones the people lining the back walls of the courtroom were waiting to have answered.

"Miss Albright, where were you on the night of February 19th of this year?"

There it was. That date that was known to every resident of Gotham City. The night that every lunatic broke out of Arkham. The night that Bruce Wayne turned 30 and burned his house down. The night the train built by the Wayne's crashed down on the ground. The night Gotham almost destroyed itself.

" I was in my apartment with my roommate." Becky answered just like she had practiced and tried not to be distracted by the camera flashes and journalists scribbling down notes. After a few more questions, Becky told the jury that she had left her apartment that night after she heard loud noises coming from outside and wanted to see what was happening. "I walked about two blocks over before I made it to Arkham and saw inmates running out of a hole in the wall. The police began arriving then."

The prosecutor began to pace about the room as he reached the truly important part of Becky's testimony.

" Did you at any time see the defendant that night?"

"Yes I did."

" Can you describe what you saw?"

The prosecutor was practically beaming as Becky began to speak. She told it exactly as she had seen it. Crane had left the asylum wearing an opened straight jacket and holding his mask. He put it on once he was outside.

"He walked up to an officer on a horse and extended his arm," she continued, "The officer collapsed off the horse and Dr. Crane got on the horse. Then the manhole down the street shot into the air."

Through a series of questions and answers Becky tugged on the hearts of they jury as she described the chaos and violence that ensued along with her inevitable inhalation of the toxin.

"Finally, Miss Albright, can you please identify Dr. Crane by where he is seated and what he is wearing?"

The identification of Dr. Crane wasn't really all that critical to the prosecution's case, but the attorney had figured it would be wise to make sure he had Becky identify him, just in case some picky juror wasn't convinced by Becky's story because she never directly pointed out Jonathan Crane.

For the first time in the entire trial, Becky looked at Crane. She had been avoiding doing so, to be sure she stayed focused on her testimony. But now, her testimony was nearly over and she wanted to send him a message. She looked directly into his bright blue eyes as she said, "He's seated at the end of counsel table wearing an orange jumpsuit."

She wanted him to know she wasn't afraid of him. She wouldn't be intimidated by him. He wouldn't shake her. The Scarecrow didn't scare her.

The trial commenced four days later and after an unexpectedly short deliberation, the jury returned with their verdict: Guilty on all charges. The sentencing hearing was nearly as exciting as the trail. Would Crane be sent to Blackgate or Arkham? Becky had hoped for Blackgate, feeling that Arkham was simply not punishment enough for what he had done. However it was decided that the doctor would be sent back to the place where he once tormented those he was hired to help.

He wouldn't stay long though.

The Master of Fear would not give up so easily.


	2. Something Much Bigger

"Your rep is still good boss. Johnny Marcioni in New Jersey wants you to put the firefighters on a rival drug operation."

"An Iraqi oil company wants to use your services."

"The president of the Republic of Malvoda is having some problems with democracy groups…"

"No. We're going after something much _bigger_."

* * *

Gotham City was changing. It was easy to see this city was not the same place it was only a year prior. With the help of the city's new district attorney, crime rates in Gotham City dropped to a level no one had seen for over 20 years. Despite this, Harvey Dent wasn't solely responsible for Gotham's recent turn around. As much as some would like to deny it, the Batman was truly the main reason for the lower levels of crime. And although Dr. Jonathan Crane hated him, he couldn't help but be thankful for the Batman's crack down on crime. Why you may ask? With other members of Gotham's underground either in jail of too afraid of going to jail to even attempt any illicit activities, Gotham was left with only one man abele to supply drugs to what was left of the mob. And that man was the Scarecrow.

He had been out of Arkham for nearly two months now, having promised one unscrupulous guard a large sum of money that he never intended to ever pay, in exchange for his "losing track" of Dr. Crane. Once he was out, he quickly stuck a deal with the remnants of the Gotham's lowlifes in order to obtain the supplies he needed for drugs, as well as payment for the finished product. Everything had been fine until now. The last batch that Jonathan Crane sold was packed with his infamous fear toxin and when the men discovered this, needless to say, they were less than pleased.

Crane and his hired help had driven to the parking garage where he had agreed to meet with the Chechen men to discuss and revaluated the terms of their 'business agreement.' Crane of course was prepared for a fight. For that reason it came as no surprise to him when the Batman showed up and a fight was exactly what he got.

So now, Dr. Crane sat tied up next to imposter batmen and realized his previous 'business agreement' was done for. At this moment, he was not at all thankful for the Batman.

"We're trying to help you!" Cried the man seated next to him. The Bat growled in response,

"I don't need help!"

"Not my diagnosis." Crane shot out smugly, receiving a menacing glare from the masked vigilante.

The same pathetic man spoke again, only to received an almost condescending retort from the Batman mocking his costume.

Once the real Batman has driven far enough away, Crane stood up with his hands still bound, but he would take care of that later. He needed a new plan now that this deal with the mob had fallen through and it didn't take him long to devise one.

"Where do you think you're going?" Crane turned around to see that same man once again was running his mouth. An eerie smile began to stretch across his face as he spoke,

" If you must know," He paused and reached down for his mask, "There's a girl who I've been waiting for some time to visit."

* * *

Over at in the Gotham State University bookstore, Becky Albright was shutting off the last few lights as she and her co-workers closed the store for the night. After the door was locked she and a few others walked to the station to catch the train back to their respective residences. Becky had decided to move very shortly after "Fear Night." Rent, unfortunately was higher everywhere in Gotham than it is near Arkham in the narrows so Becky found herself a roommate and picked up some extra hours at the campus bookstore to cover the extra rent money. Luckily, her new house was only a few train stops away from the University.

Gotham's railroad cars were in far from perfect condition. Inside the train, seat cushions were ripped, permanent marker decorated advertisements, and the smell of body odor mixed with various other foul smells was always present. Becky sat near the door, avoiding any seat that looked recently stained. There were two others in the car with her. One man in cheap suit sitting three rows away checking his phone and a scraggily, bearded man who was fast asleep and loudly snoring. While her eyes wandered around the passenger car, she noticed the man in the suit had pulled out a newspaper. The headline was nothing new. "Joker continues to evade Gotham PD." That was all the news wanted to talk about recently. That crazy clown who was robbing banks left and right and neither the police nor the Batman had been able to catch him yet.

The walk from the train station to her house was uneventful, as it usually was. There was no creepy alleyways she needed to walk through or sketchy liquor stores she had to pass by, just your average lower-middle-class neighborhood. Her house was nearly identical to the ones surrounding it. A skinny building covered in red bricks with a few concrete stairs leading to the front door. When she first moved, Becky kept the address saved on her cell phone to avoid accidentally ending up trying to get into the wrong house.

When Becky opened the door, her roommate who was slouched over the couched perked up, "Becky, come here, watch this!" Confused as to what was so important, she walked over into the living room area where the local news channel was on television. The reporter was outside of a parking garage interviewing a man dressed as Batman

"Alice, it's just-"

"Shh! Listen."

Interviews with the fake batmen were getting to be more and more common. With them showing up everywhere trying their hand at stopping criminals, if they didn't die in the process you could bet they'd show up on the evening news. At a glance, this was no different than every other news cast about the citizen's taking up arms against crime.

"_He was right there,_" The imposter batman recalled,_ "then he took mask and walked away."_

"_Does it trouble you that the Scarecrow is still out there?"_

Becky shut off the television. "Why are you showing me this?"She snapped. If there was one name she never wanted to hear for the rest of her life, it was Jonathan Crane's. After the trial, that's all anyone ever wanted to talk about. After months of having to hear about him everywhere she went, people had finally lost interest in the mad doctor. She was not going to have to go through that again.

"I figured you'd want to know about it." Alice responded, genuinely surprised by Becky's reaction.

From outside, you could hear Becky's dog furiously barking. It wasn't really that uncommon; as adorable as that little dog was, it almost never shut up. Alice pushed herself off the couch, presumably to go let the dog in when all of a sudden, the dog's bark was cut off and replaced with a half-yelp. Then silence. Alice's eyes were as wide as dinner plates when she whipped her head around and looked at Becky who looked as if the gears in her head were spinning at a mile a minute. Alice carefully walked out of sight towards the back door, not uttering a single sound.

Then Becky heard her scream.

As quickly as she could, she ran into the kitchen, only to find Alice screaming and thrashing around on the kitchen tile. Becky put her cane of the ground as she squatted down and grabbed Alice's shoulder.

"Alice!" She yelled over her screams, "Alice!"

Alice was completely unfazed by Becky's presence and continued to flail about. It wasn't until Becky looked outside the screen door that the panic began to set in. There was her dog, lying dead in a pool of its own blood.

Adrenaline kicked in at this point. Automatically she called the police. She became aware of just how loudly her heart was pounding when Alice passed out and the house was completely silent. Before she could finish the 911 call, a chilling voice came from behind her.

"I wouldn't do that, Miss Albright."

She froze. She didn't have to turn around to know who was there. He spoke forcefully, yet very restrained. The level of calm he maintained made everything he said much more frightening.

And he was in her house. She lowered the phone from her ear, and with her back still turned to him, finally spoke.

"The police on their-"

"The police don't concern me."

Slowly she turned around. He stood on the other side of the room, no more than ten feet from her. His mask was just as she remembered it, but his suit now was bit more torn up than it was in pictures of him before. The fact that he managed to get there so silently sent chills up her spine. He took a step forward, walking at a deliberately slow pace.

" I don't want to have to hurt you Becky," He announced condescendingly, "but you're going to have to tell the police that you lied to them."

Although the statement was meant to terrify Becky, it only made her blood boil. The one thing she would not allow anyone to do was threaten her into doing something. And him walking into her house and trying to scare her into taking back her testimony was not something she would stand for, no matter how fearful she was. She vindictively responded, "Go to hell."

The Scarecrow let out a theatrical disappointed sigh as he continued to step forward. He folded his hands and cocked his head to the side just slightly. Underneath the mask, a devious grin was forming. He was already imaging how wonderful it would be when he would finally make her scream.

"You know, I really didn't want it to come to this."

Becky took a step back and bumped into her kitchen counter and would've fallen over had she not grabbed the edge of the counter in time. She couldn't run, if she had her cane he'd catch her within seconds. He was now less than a foot away from her, so close she could smell the burlap from his mask. She would have to try to fight him off, that was all she could do.

"Last chance."


End file.
